Velojet, A simple avatar chat program like ThePalace, IMVU, could easily be done through simple chat-like messaging between clients. I made one in Construct Classic with SciDave's plugin here: "Pixel People Online"
Jayjay
Thanks for that - very useful in getting an idea of what you have in mind. Your 'Pixel People Online' looks cool and is a great demo of what might be made.
SciDave's Network CC plugin looks pretty low level, being packet-based (e.g. "GetToken(Network.PacketData,1,":")"), and if that's the sort of addtional functionality you're wanting in C2, I wonder just how many of those you called "beginner devs" would have the sort of networking savvy needed to "make decent things without much effort".